1165 - SPITZWEG, CARL

SPITZWEG, CARL 1808 Munich–1885 Munich Title: The Cactus Lover. Date: 1850–1860. Technique: Oil on panel. Dimensions: 30.5 x 23.5 cm. Notation: Signed lower right: S in a rhombus. Frame: Framed. Carl Spitzweg was born into a merchant family in Munich and enjoyed a sheltered childhood. Throughout his life, he remained loyal to his hometown; there he trained as an apothecary and studied pharmacy, chemistry, and botany. Having gained financial independence through an inheritance, the 25-year-old Spitzweg decided to follow his passion and devoted his life to painting from then on. He set himself a deadline of 15 years to establish himself as an artist and make a name for himself. Should he remain unsuccessful, he planned to return to his career as an apothecary. A circle of friends consisting of various painters, especially Eduard Schleich the Elder, offered valuable advice to the self-taught artist and encouraged his decision. Success came quickly: Spitzweg’s small-scale works, aimed at the new bourgeois class of buyers, soon sold well. The extremely diligent painter, however, was also a man who traveled frequently and was open to innovations in the artistic world. During his countless trips and hikes with his artist friends, he gathered impressions of Bavaria, the Alpine region, Northern Italy, and even Dalmatia. One journey that had a lasting influence on his artistic work took Carl Spitzweg, along with his brother and Eduard Schleich the Elder, first to Paris in 1851 and from there to the first World’s Fair in London. In Paris, Spitzweg made contact with the artists of the Barbizon School, whom he visited in the Forest of Fontainebleau. Painting directly in the landscape, the resulting new treatment of light and shadow, the non-linear application of paint, and the theatrical composition of landscapes—as practiced by the group around Théodore Rousseau, Camille Corot, and Charles François Daubigny—all of this impressed and fascinated Spitzweg. His subsequent encounter with William Turner’s works in London led his painting even further in the same direction. “The Cactus Lover,” lot 1165, is one of Carl Spitzweg’s most popular motifs, second only to “The Poor Poet.” An old man clad in a robe has stepped out of his house into the morning sun. He holds a pot with a cactus close to his eyes, admiring its buds. He appears to be talking to the prickly plant. Other specimens of this kind are arranged on a parapet. They attest to their owner’s expertise in these exotic species. Carl Spitzweg, this master of psychological characterization, presents the “Cactus Lover” as a relatively small figure in a rather expansive space: Behind the somewhat untidy spot at the corner of the house, dark trees rise, against which the sunlit scene stands out particularly well. Affectionate humor resonates in the depiction of this figure, who is absorbed in the exotic plant and appears relatively small in relation to the pictorial space. Through his friendly exploration of the people and situations characteristic of his work, Carl Spitzweg has significantly shaped the general perception of the Biedermeier era and is, apart from Caspar David Friedrich, likely the most popular German visual artist of the 19th century. The present version of the “Cactus Lover” is not listed in the 2002 catalogue raisonné by Siegfried Wiechmann; however, it has been shown to the Spitzweg expert Detlef Rosenberger in its original form and has been evaluated as an authentic work. He dated the painting to the period between 1850 and 1860. We are grateful to Detlev Rosenberger of Oberostendorf, who confirmed the attribution of the painting upon seeing the original. The work will be registered by him in the digital catalogue raisonné of Spitzweg’s paintings. Provenance: - Private collection, Germany Estimated shipping costs for this lot: This lot is not suitable for parcel shipping. Transport must be arranged by a shipping company following consultation after the auction. Additional shipping insurance Shipping insurance up to a total invoice amount of 25,000 euros: max. 41.65 euros over a total invoice amount of 25,000 euros: 1.8 per thousand Shipping to the USA by individual arrangement after the auction. #Carl Spitzweg #Munich School #Biedermeier #Germany #19th C. #Caricature #Plants #Paintings.